Sunny Sunday Salon, May 21

Our backyard is so lovely this time of year.

Weather: Perfect. Blue skies, temperature warm but not hot.

Ear Infection: This whole week I have been suffering from a middle ear infection. My Eustachian tubes are plugged which has caused fluid buildup, which causes pressure on my inner ear, causing intermittent vertigo. Lovely. Wednesday I wasn't sure if I was going to make it home from school, I was so dizzy. Lucky for me the car knows the way. I've been stuck in the house since then, not wanting to go out in case I have another attack of the dizzies. I hope I can make it to school tomorrow, since Don is on a trip to Idaho and I am on my own.

The good part of being stuck in the house: I have finally started to catch up on my blogging. I am so far behind on my book reviews, it was good to have an excuse to write. So far I have written four book reviews and I anticipate another one done today once this dizzy spell passes. Check them out:

• Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
• Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin
• Vincent and Theo: The van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman (written and scheduled for publication tomorrow)
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Books completed this week:

• Vincent and Theo: The van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman. A biography of the famous artist and his brother, based on primary documents. Very well done but long.  Audio and print.
• This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. A book club selection about a family who attempts to keep the secret of their child's sex/gender assignment not matching genitalia. Very thought-provoking. Audio and print.
• The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang. A little fable recommended by a blogging friend, Deb Nance at Readerbuzz. Cute. Print.

Abandoned this week: (I decided I am no longer interested or just ran out of time)

• The Girls from Ames
• The Gift, poems by Hafiz

Currently reading: 

• Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Gaudin---I am on a race to finish this book before the end of the school year and retirement. Another book recommended by a fellow blogger, Alicia of A Kernel of Nonsense. I just started. 1%. Print.
• We Are Okay by Nina LaCour---a YA selection based on its starred reviews. Two friends separated by space and circumstances try to reconnect. LGBT-themes. Audio. 65%.

A bookish thought or two: Now that retirement is just around the corner, or even closer, I am starting to think of my life without a library at my fingertips. I know, I can still use the public library systems but it won't be the same. I think that will be the hardest thing about leaving the school for the last time in June.// I am also thinking about books as a finite thing. Let's say I live for another 25 years and can pull off reading say 60 books a year, which seems like a reasonable number once I won't be reading as much YA literature, that means I have about 1500 more books ahead of me. With a finite number like that to contemplate, it makes me think I should be more picky about what I read. If I am not enjoying a book I hope to give myself permission to abandon it or to just read a bit and set it aside without forcing myself to finish it out of some kind of inner compulsion. We'll see how successful I am at it. 

On that note: I checked out this list of books mentioned on the TV show "The Gilmore Girls" read by Rory Gilmore, after it was mentioned by another blogger at Utopia of Mind. It contains 339 books. I've read 94 of them. Many of the others are on my virtual reading list. How many have you read? My English teacher friends have all read more than me. Several of the book on the list are complete short story collections or complete volumes of poetry which I have read some but not all. I didn't count those. Since Rory read so much I am sure we all know why she was so brilliant!

Walk in the sun: Time to get out of the house and see how I do with a short walk around the block. Hopefully I don't get half way and get hit by a bout of the dizzies. Maybe I should plant flowers instead. I hate to be too far from a chair or coach.

Love you!